Local Tennessee baseball signees not wavering despite coach's resignation

East Hamilton's Nick Woods (5) stretches and grabs an errant throw as Walker Valley's Grayson Roundtree slides. The Hurricanes defeat Walker Valley 4-3, in a Tuesday afternoon baseball game at East Hamilton. Woods, who played shortstop, closed the win from the mound.

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 9/30/16. Baylor's Gunnar Ricketts (27) snags a the ball out of the air while playing McCallie School during the first half of play at the Blue Tornado's home field on September 30, 2016.

Dave Serrano's resignation as Tennessee's baseball coach left Gunnar Ricketts and Nick Woods disappointed but unshaken.

The two local high school standouts and Tennessee eXposure summer teammates are part of a 12-man signing class announced in December that appears to be staying intact as Tennessee athletic director John Currie continues his search for Serrano's replacement.

"I am still going, 100 percent, for sure," Ricketts said Thursday, the day before he graduated from Baylor School.

"I'm all in on Tennessee right now," added Woods, who graduated from East Hamilton last month. "I have all my classes set up already."

Currie told the Times Free Press on Saturday that he is pleased with the interest in the job and optimistic that the next coach will have Tennessee baseball regularly competing in the Southeastern Conference and qualifying for the NCAA tournament. Tennessee has not played in an NCAA regional since 2005.

"We're focused on our baseball program," he said.

Ricketts, a speedy outfielder, and Woods, an infielder and pitcher, said they keep in touch with the other players in their signing class, which includes eight players from Tennessee, two from Georgia, one from Virginia and one from Florida.

Neither Ricketts nor Woods knew of anyone in the class seeking a release from his national letter of intent, and most of the signees plan to enroll at Tennessee in time for the second term of summer school, they said.

"Everybody is all in right now, that I know of," Woods said. "We all talk frequently. We all know what each other are up to. From what I've heard, everyone is still excited to go up to Knoxville soon. I haven't heard any negative things about it yet."

Larry Simcox, a Chattanooga native and assistant under Serrano, is serving as the interim coach. The NCAA tournament is in the midst of its 64-team regional round this weekend, meaning several likely candidates are still coaching.

Currie, in addition to vetting candidates, has called each member of the signing class, reassuring the players that hiring a new coach is a priority.

Ricketts said Currie called him to explain how the search was working and to express excitement in the arrival of the signing class. Woods received a similar call.

"I was very surprised by that, to know that he cares that much to let us know about the whole process in general," Woods said. "I think that says a lot about him and what he's trying to do right now. That kind of speaks greatly about how he wants the program to move on. And I'm excited to see who he brings in."

Ricketts said he had been looking forward to playing for Serrano, with whom he had grown close.

"I loved the way he coached," he said.

But, Ricketts added, signing to play for Tennessee was a dream come true.

"I'm just going to go in there with the mindset that I have to work really hard, and hopefully I can work hard enough to play next year," Ricketts said. "It's really the same plan I had going in anyway, just go in there and work my tail off and hopefully get a chance to play as a freshman. So really the same mindset I had with Coach Serrano, only difference is that it's a different coach."

Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.